The Frozen Lake
by Mystifying Fog
Summary: Don't break the ice. [Warning: Major Character Death] [One-shot]


Sam, Dean, and Castiel were on a hunt, as per usual. It was the middle of January, and they were searching for a wendigo in Idaho. They had already figured out it was somewhere in a forest surrounding a huge lake (they didn't even remember the name of the place; someone had ultimately shown them how to get there). Sam had managed to catch a cold at some point on the drive up, so Dean had convinced him to stay behind at the motel, stating that he and Castiel would be fine. Ever since Castiel fell over a year ago, the Winchesters had been training him to be a hunter — and he was doing well.

Dean and Castiel were in the middle of the forest, where the gigantic lake was. Since it was the middle of winter, the lake was completely frozen over. The pair was walking along the side of the lake when Castiel looked to his left, and spotted an odd figure in the middle of the huge patch of ice.

"Dean," he said, tapping the other hunter's shoulder lightly. Dean followed Castiel's gaze, but he didn't see anything.

"What?"

"There's something out there," Castiel continued.

Dean kept looking, but he still couldn't see it. "I don't see anything."

"Right there," Castiel tried, now pointing at the mysterious shape.

"There's nothing there, Cas," Dean reassured.

Castiel still wasn't convinced. Without even looking back at Dean, he turned to the left, and began to slowly walk toward the lake. Dean grabbed him by the shoulder and flipped him around so they were facing each other. "Whoa, whoa, you're just gonna walk over the lake?"

"Yes," Castiel replied.

"Um, no, you're not," Dean said.

"I need to see what that object is. It could be the wendigo."

"Cas, there's nothing there. Not to mention, walking over ice is dangerous."

In response, Castiel picked up a rock that was approximately the size of two fists, walked up to the lake, and threw it down at the frozen lake. The ice didn't even crack. "See? The ice isn't thin."

"Cas —"

"Dean, I will be fine."

Dean sighed in resignation. "Fine. I'll wait here. Don't be out there too long."

Castiel didn't reply, and turned around. He began to walk slowly on the thick ice, taking care not to slip. Dean watched him, in case something were to happen.

Around the time Castiel had reached the middle of the lake, Dean heard the bushes rustle behind him. He turned around to look, making sure nothing was really there, when he heard a crack and a splash. He whirled around, looking for Castiel. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Cas?" he called. There was no response. "Cas?"

"Damn it," Dean muttered to himself as he began to hurry across the ice to the area where he had last seen Castiel. He was equally worried and equally pissed off that Castiel hadn't listened to him, but as he got closer to the middle of the lake, he became more worried.

"Cas?" he tried again, to no avail. Eventually, Dean reached the spot where Castiel had been — which was now occupied by a large hole leading into the water. Moving very slowly so as to not break the ice below him, he reached into the hole with his arm, hoping to find Castiel somewhere down there. He didn't. Dean knew that there wasn't a lot of time, so he had to act quickly. He decided that the water was almost certainly below zero degrees, but he didn't care.

Dean took a few deep breaths, before gulping in a large amount of air and diving into the hole that Castiel had fallen into. He hadn't realized just how deep the lake was until he was already fully submerged. He kept swimming down, determined to save his friend.

He didn't know how long he had actually been in the water, but it felt like several minutes before he found Castiel — lying motionless on the bottom of the lake. Dean scooped him up in his left arm, and began to swim back up toward the surface.

Not even halfway up, Dean's lungs began to burn due to the lack of oxygen. That didn't stop him from continuing on. However, when he was around halfway up, he started to become disoriented; the arm he was using to swim was slowly but surely giving out on him. It wasn't long before Dean found himself unable to swim any further, and the two hunters began to sink back toward the bottom.

If he hadn't been underwater, Dean would have been crying his eyes out. He hated to admit it even to himself, but it was almost definitely true.

Dean's lungs began to burn even more, screaming for air that he couldn't provide. He felt unconsciousness creeping up on him as the edges of his vision began to turn black and his eyes blurred slightly. Dean reluctantly decided that it was a lost cause — he was doomed, and so was Castiel.

He looked at the almost-certainly dead body in his arm, and forced a tiny smile on his face; so tiny, that if he had been talking to someone else, they probably wouldn't have even noticed he was smiling at all. If Castiel was to die, he thought, then he was to die alongside him. He put his free hand behind Castiel's head, and brought it up toward his own. Dean laid a kiss on his forehead, his nose, his cheeks... and finally, his lips. Even if Castiel couldn't kiss him back, Dean put everything into that final kiss — all of the things left unsaid, every emotion he felt.

Dean let the darkness take him away, with his final thought being _I love you_.

Sam wouldn't find them for several more hours, following twenty-seven failed phone calls, countless unanswered screams into the dark woods, and one call to 911 after discovering a hole in the ice.

**A/N: I'm an asshole.**


End file.
